In the wake of an ambush on Dallas police officers, Denver’s police union has renewed its call for officers to be dressed in riot gear for local protests.

“The intensity of protests and the protesters continue to grow every day, both here and across the country — like the protests in Dallas last night,” a Denver Police Protective Association letter said. “Every day, Denver’s police officers place themselves in the street to protect those involved and the property around them.”

But the city’s police leaders insisted Friday they will monitor demonstrations as they always have — with officers in their regular blue uniforms.

Across the nation, police chiefs began assessing their department’s strategies, policies and equipment in the wake of the Dallas ambush. A sense of urgency was heightened when officers were ambushed Friday in Tennessee, Georgia and Missouri.

Denver Police Chief Robert White and Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz said they were looking at adjustments to strategies and tactics. But neither department seemed poised to take drastic measures.

But increasing violence in the United States and abroad has officers on edge. Denver’s police union not only asked Friday to wear riot gear during protests, but also announced it wants officers patrolling Denver International Airport to be armed with AR-15 assault rifles.

In a two-page letter to White and Mayor Michael Hancock, the PPA said it would not be long before an officer is seriously injured during a protest and city leaders would be held accountable.

“The Denver Police Protective Board respectfully request that command officers cease and desist from giving orders to officers forcing them to forgo appropriate safety gear when tending to the ongoing protests in Denver,” the letter said. “Please do not place appearances above officer safety.”

Nick Rogers, the union president, said the Dallas ambush proved the point.

“There’ll be hell to pay if one of our guys gets hurt,” Rogers said.

The police union’s letter Friday to airport director Kim Day cited “numerous terrorist threats and assaults on airports and other public or visible venues — both domestically and internationally.”

In a joint news conference Friday, the mayor and chief addressed concerns about policing whether those concerns come from police officers or city residents.

They said riot gear would be used only if the situation demanded it. In most cases, protests and marches do not warrant it, White said.

“I see no reason whatsoever to have officers in anything other than their regular Class A uniforms,” he said.

In some cities, chiefs were deciding to pair officers in squad cars rather than ask them to patrol alone.

White and Metz said they would consider doing that, but had not made any decisions. Both declined to disclose specific strategies because they did not want to compromise officer safety.

Both said they had tried to assure their officers that their cities would do what is necessary to protect them.

When it comes to pairing officers in patrol cars, Metz said, the challenge was giving up numbers. There would be fewer cars to respond to calls and response times would be slower. And there would be less visibility in the community, he said.

As for dressing in ballistic vests and helmets for protests, Metz agreed chiefs should be judicious in using the equipment because it could present the wrong image at the wrong time.

“You want to do your best to not do anything that will ramp up emotional responses,” he said. “We don’t want to be the spark to the flames.”

Metz worked at the Seattle Police Department during the 1999 World Trade Organization protests that drew tens of thousands of people to the city and escalated into violence.

Metz said he learned it is important for police commanders to understand the situation, the issues and the people involved.

Aurora has fewer protests, and they aren’t on the large scale of the demonstrations that erupt in Denver.

In December 2014, massive, heated protests erupted after a Missouri grand jury chose not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown.

Those demonstrations included student walkouts at multiple metro area schools. Denver police provided escorts, but four officers on bicycles were hurt — one critically — when they were struck by an out-of-control car.

The injuries led the Denver police union to call for better protection for officers, including the use of riot gear. White refused, saying it appeared intimidating and was unnecessary.

Friday, he again said he doesn’t anticipate using that equipment. During the protests Thursday, participants were peaceful and there were no arrests, he said.

White said his department had productive discussions with Black Lives Matter 5280 about the sit-in at Civic Center. The department had less communication with the coordinators of a march on the 16th Street Mall.

As a march moved up the mall, Denver police cars blocked traffic on cross streets. Other officers were staged out of sight in case the situation escalated.

The goal always is to protect the participants, residents and officers, White said.

“Our tactic for the most part is to be nonconfrontational and to be within sight but not to be in sight to the point where we could intimidate the situation that’s not necessarily at the point where intimidation would be appropriate,” he said.

Noelle Phillips, a Nashville native and a Western Kentucky University journalism school grad, covers law enforcement and public safety for The Denver Post. She has spent more than 20 years in the newspaper world. During that time, she's covered everything from rural towns in the Southeast to combat in the Middle East. The Denver Post is her fifth newspaper and her first in the West.